Saving Energy Through Better Products and Appliances

161 Pages·2010·2.64 MB·English

www.defra.gov.uk

Saving Energy Through Better Products

and A ppliances

A report on analysis, aims and indicative standards for energy

efficient products 2009 - 2030

December 2009
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Telephone [phone]
Website: www.defra.gov.uk

© Crown copyright 2010

Copyright in the typographical arrangement and design rests with the Crown.

This publication (excluding the royal arms and departmental logos) may be re-used free of
charge in any format or medium provided that it is re-used accurately and not used in a
misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as crown copyright and the title of
the publication specified.

Information about this publication is available from:

Sustainable Energy-using Products Team
Defra
Zone 5D
Ergon House
c/o 17 Smith Square
SW1P 3JR
Email: [email protected]

This document is available on the Defra website:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/energy-using-products/index.htm

Published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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Contents
Executive summary.............................................................................. 3

1: Introduction........................................................................................ 5
2: Context.............................................................................................. 7
3: Product Area Coverage..................................................................... 16
4: Policy Overview................................................................................. 18
5: Delivering Savings through Product Policy........................................ 26

Annex 1: Introduction to Product Area Annexes.................................. 30
Annex 2: Consumer Electronic Products............................................. 33
Annex 3: Domestic Appliances Products............................................. 43
Annex 4: Domestic Central Heating Systems...................................... 52
Annex 5: Domestic Lighting Products.................................................. 62
Annex 6: Air Conditioning Products..................................................... 69
Annex 7: Information and Communication Technology Products....... 79
Annex 8: Motors & circulators.............................................................. 91
Annex 9: Commercial Refrigeration..................................................... 103
Annex 10: Non-domestic Lighting Products........................................... 111
Annex 11: Servers and Data Centres (Overview).................................. 122
Annex 12: Domestic Cooking Appliances (Overview)........................... 125
Annex 13: Motor-driven systems (Overview)......................................... 128
Annex 14: Non-Domestic Heating (Overview) ...................................... 131
Annex 15: Other product areas (Overview) .......................................... 134

Appendix I: Analysis of policy scenarios................................................ 137
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Executive summary

A. The Rationale for Product Policy

Appliances that use energy, such as white goods, lighting, televisions, heating and cooling
systems and electric motors contribute significantly to the UK‟s CO emissions: around a
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third of the UK‟s greenhouse gas emissions result from the use of Energy using Products,
in our homes, offices and in industry. By removing the worst products from the market and
promoting the sales of the best products emissions and energy bills are reduced
significantly. Government and businesses do this through various means and, taken
together, these “product policies” are examined in this document.

Such interventions allow Government to deliver CO emission reductions with no
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compromise and no overall cost to the UK economy - combining delivery of substantial
emission reductions with the generation of billions of pounds of benefits to the UK. The
calculations we have made in developing this document indicate net benefits to UK society
of £26 billion (£41 billion in benefits, against a cost of £15 billion) over the period 2009 –
2030 will be possible, as a result of these policies, and at a cost: benefit ratio of 1:3. We
have where applicable taken into account the Heat Replacement effect (see footnote 16
pg 14) we have not taken into account the “rebound effect”, when consumers save money
only to spend this on other goods and services which themselves have an effect on the
CO emission reductions. However we know how difficult this can be to measure and
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continue to invest in research on the role of behaviours and how these can be built into our
policies.

This document discusses the role of product policy in the context of the UK‟s wider energy
saving policies. It provides a high-level overview of product policy in the UK and is
supported by nine annexes describing specific groups of energy-using products. The
impacts of policies on energy demand for these product groups are compared with the
Government‟s aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as set out in the Climate Change
Act 2008 and the 2050 Pathways Report, published in July 20101. The analyses set out in
this document take into account a number of comments received in response to a public
consultation held between December 2009 and March 2010.

B. Overview of policy measures

This analysis takes a number of policy measures into account:

 Minimum standards which require that all products meet mandatory energy
efficiency levels, in particular the European Union‟s standards set under the Eco-
design for Energy-using Products Directive (these minimum standards are
projected to account for the largest share of savings);

 Labelling which informs consumers of the relative energy efficiency of products,
allowing them to choose more energy efficient products. This also incentivises
manufacturers to develop products which are more energy efficient than the
minimum standards require;

1 http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/2050/2050.aspx
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 Obligations on energy suppliers have encouraged energy suppliers to work
towards reducing the amount of energy that people use in their homes. This
includes encouraging people to use more energy-efficient products;

 Fiscal: tax incentives for energy efficient products; and

 Market instruments: put a price on carbon emissions, which creates an incentive
to control them.

C. Policy Gap

Projected policies will deliver substantial savings (in the order of 24 MtCO per annum),
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exceeding government's current aims. There is, however, potential to double savings (an
additional 24MtCO annual savings) against the baseline set in the 2007 Energy White
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Paper, by using the most energy-efficient technologies available (Best Available
Technologies (BAT)). Further savings could be achieved by consumer behaviour-focused
policies. Note that the 24MtCO2 of savings delivered from current projections cited above,
assesses progress against an EWP 2007 baseline, whereas the remainder of this
document generally provides analysis from a 2009 baseline.
A number of policy options are available to bridge this „gap‟ between the savings
achievable between the projected policies and those that would arise if BAT is used by
everyone. These focus around building upon, and extending, existing policy mechanisms
and supporting technological innovation in energy-using products. Moreover,
complementary policies focussed on encouraging responsible, energy-saving consumer
behaviour, avoiding the potential for a "rebound effect" whereby financial savings are
spent on more consumption, are possible.

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1. Introduction

Appliances and products that use energy, such as white goods, lighting, televisions,
heating and cooling systems and electric motors contribute significantly to the UK‟s
CO emissions. The Government has objectives to reduce these impacts, which
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includes the removal of the worst products from the market and promoting the sales
of the most-efficient products. This document considers all these policies and
interventions holistically as “product policies.”

Defra has, on a regular basis, updated its evidence base, which covers a large
number of domestic and non-domestic energy-using product groups. This document
assesses the UK‟s progress towards meeting its objectives to save CO through the
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implementation of effective product policy, and where future efforts should be
focused. It sets out the Government‟s current performance standards (also referred
to as „Government Standards‟) for energy-using products, projected from the present
day to 2030. Government, business and consumers should aim to deliver and use
products that meet the performance levels set out in the standards.

This overview report presents a cross-cutting analysis of product policy for the UK.
Information about policies affecting specific product areas is set out in nine product-
specific annexes and five shorter annexes for products not yet subject to policies.

The 2008 Climate Change Act legally binds the UK Government to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases covered
by the Kyoto Protocol2) by at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. In order
to do this, the Climate Change Act established a budgeting system that requires
Government to set binding limits on UK emissions for each successive five year
period, beginning 2008-2012, and requires at least a 34% reduction against a 1990
baseline by 2020.

The role of energy-using product policy in the context of wider energy saving
commitments is discussed in this document. Most recent projections specify in which
areas the largest energy savings are expected, and where more effort will be
required both to 2020, and beyond. Future priorities for Government in this area are
discussed.

The main body of the document is supported by:

 nine annexes covering the key background and performance standards for
specific product groups
 five shorter annexes on product areas for which the Government intends to
gather further evidence to enable the development of additional policies; and
 a series of Government Standards Briefing Notes (GSBNs) which provide further
detail on product area assumptions, policies and scenarios; these are available
on the Defra website (http://efficient-products.defra.gov.uk/cms/market-
transformation-programme )

2 Methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride.
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The data and modelling underpinning the analysis in this document has been
informed by a public consultation held between December 2009 and March 2010,
input into which has informed revisions in a number of areas. Data held by the
Market Transformation Programme are outlined in the number of Government
Standards Briefing Notes which are available on line as a complement to this
document.

Existing evidence and Information on the ownership and usage of many domestic
products has recently been added to by data collected by the online survey on the
„Act on CO ‟ website between 2007 and 2009. Over 100,000 surveys where
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completed by UK citizens and MTP has worked to analyse these to verify the
conclusions of existing sources of evidence.
Further, additional research has been conducted, or is ongoing, such as a joint
Defra-DECC commissioned UK Household Energy Consumption survey and a
DECC commissioned study “How Trends in Appliances Affect Domestic CO
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Emissions: A Review of Home and Garden Appliances”.

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2. Context
2.1 Policy Context

Product policy as described in this document is part of the UK's climate change
mitigation strategy. This section outlines the policy context within which that strategy
operates.
On 23 January 2008 the European Commission put forward a far-reaching package
of proposals that will deliver on the European Union's ambitious commitments to fight
climate change and promote renewable energy up to 2020 and beyond. In
December 2008 the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on the
package that will help transform Europe into a low-carbon economy and increase its
energy security. The EU is committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least
20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much
as 30% under a new global climate change agreement when other developed
countries make comparable efforts. It has also set itself the target of increasing the
share of renewables in energy use to 20% by 2020. The „Climate action and
renewable energy package‟ sets out the contribution expected from each Member
State to meeting these targets and proposes a series of measures to help achieve
them.3
In the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 establishes a legally-binding target to
reduce the UK‟s greenhouse gas emissions to at least 80% below 1990 levels by
2050, through action at home and abroad, with an interim target requiring reductions
of at least 34% below 1990 levels by 2020. The Coalition Government supports this
target. If the EU moves to a more ambitious target for 2020 we would expect the UK
to amend its 2020 target, along with the second and third carbon budgets, to reflect
this. Furthermore, the Government has to set the level of the fourth carbon budget
(2023 – 2027) by June 2011. It will therefore be important to consider where
additional emissions savings from Energy-using Products could play a key role.
Policies that increase the efficiency of energy-using products do, and will continue to
play a large part in moving the UK closer to successfully meeting its targets at the
lowest cost, and have helped to establish the UK as a leader in Europe in this area.
Product policy has been moving up the agenda in the UK. The UK‟s 2005
Sustainable Development Strategy – Securing the Future4 tackled the topic of
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), setting out three key aims:
- Better products and services with improved environmental performance.
- Cleaner, more efficient production processes which strengthen
competitiveness.
- Shifts in consumption towards goods and services with lower environmental
impacts.
The Coalition Government continues to support this EU approach to reducing CO
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emissions through various policies including product policy. In particular the setting
of Minimum Energy Performance standards (MEPs) and Labelling standards

3 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/climate_action.htm
4 www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/publications/uk-strategy
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implementing measures that are consistent with the evidence developed by
Government as part of this report. And through stakeholder engagement in both EU
and UK and the EuP stakeholder forums ensure that any new MEPs and/or Labelling
standards will be based on a robust evidence base, cost and benefits and UK (and
EU) Impact Assessments. In particular, the effect on small and medium sized
enterprises, showing that there are net benefits to UK overall and that UK
businesses are not disproportionally affected, that the proposed measures should
not have any significant negative impact on consumers in particular the affordability
and life cycle cost of the product nor any significant negative impact on Industry‟s
competitiveness and that admin burdens to businesses are always minimised.
Further, the work is seen to support the economic recovery.

The Government‟s work on energy-using products relates mainly to improving the
performance of products and services. It also has significant effects on shifting
consumption towards goods with lower environmental impacts, in particular
considering the impacts of products throughout their whole life-cycle, considering
issues such as waste and recycling, transportation and manufacturing.
The 2007 Energy White Paper (EWP) estimated that raising product standards could
reduce annual emissions by between 1 and 3 million tonnes of carbon (MtC)5 by
2020 (3.7 to 11 MtCO per year). The EWP set out a range of measures aimed at
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reducing the energy consumption of products, systems and services. The scope of
product policy measures and the projections of their impacts have significantly
expanded since 2007, and the 2009 Low Carbon Transition Plan reinforced the role
that product policy has in carbon reduction, against a projected business-as-usual
baseline.
The Government aims to regularly consult on its analysis of how the performance of
energy-using products will need to improve over future years, including proposals for
product standards and targets to phase out the least efficient products. This regular
review process ensures that new evidence, including that relating to recent market
changes and the introduction of new technologies, is considered. The Government
held its first consultation on this topic in 2007, and published its revised Government
Standards in 2008. This document builds upon this first set of standards and has
been revised in light of consultation between December 2009 and March 2010. It
takes into account new evidence and policy developments since 2007. These regular
updates of the Government‟s evidence base ensures ever improving robustness of
data, which enables the Government to continually deliver ambitious, innovative
evidence-driven policies which will enable the UK to meet – and exceed - its
emission reduction commitments.
Improved product sustainability needs to become the normal consideration for the
mainstream market. This will be a challenge for manufacturing and retail sectors, but
is also to be seen as a major business opportunity. During manufacturing,
distribution and retail processes, improved efficiency in the use of a wide range of
resources (energy, water, and waste) will drive down business costs, whilst reducing
environmental impacts. Moreover, first mover advantage opportunities exist for
businesses who anticipate increasing requirements on sustainability, and who design
and market products that satisfy changing consumer demands.

5 Using the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills figures for carbon content of electricity
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Finally, consumers will benefit significantly from improvements in the efficiency and
performance of appliances. Year on year savings to household energy and water
bills add up to a significant net benefit for the UK as a whole as well as individual
households and businesses.

2.2 The role of Product Policy

Within any product group, and at any point in time, there is likely to be a range of
products on the market which exhibit varying degrees of sustainability. As illustrated
in Figure 1 below, the package of policies implemented needs to include measures
targeting the entire range of products, in order to:

 Encourage the development of new products that are more sustainable than
currently available.
 Drive the market average towards greater sustainability.
 Remove the least sustainable products from the market.

Figure 1: Product Policy – overall scope and approach

The Government's policy approach covers:
 Working with industry on Responsibility Deals to reach collaborative solutions
to policy goals. Providing information – in the form of A-G energy labels on
goods agreed across the EU, complemented by the Energy Saving Trust‟s
„Recommended‟ label to the most efficient products, and in some cases the
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